


Good Seats

by WildwingSuz



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 04:59:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3797629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildwingSuz/pseuds/WildwingSuz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While out on a date, who else would Scully run into?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Seats

**Author's Note:**

> I have never been to see the NSO at the Kennedy Center (I wish!), but my husband and I have season tickets to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Detroit's Orchestra Hall. All descriptions of the concert hall in this story are the best I could do from never actually having been to the Kennedy Center and, as with many fiction authors, I've taken liberties with the real location to fit my story. Yell at no one but me for this. 
> 
> Spoilers: small ones for Bad Blood, Tooms, and Young at Heart. Set mid-Season 5, sometime after Bad Blood.
> 
> Thanks to all my betas both old and new: Alia, Anne, Genuhsis, Senzafine, and Lisa. Can't thank you all enough.

**Good Seats**  
Rated PG-13  
by Suzanne Feld

 

_March 1998_

  
“Here you go, Dana; these are very good seats.”

It seemed odd for a man to be calling her Dana, though she would never mistake Eric Vaughn for Mulder even if he did call her by her surname, Scully thought as she murmured a polite agreement and moved into the row of seats sideways holding her program against her chest. He was shorter and stocky with very broad shoulders, blonde and brown-eyed with a thick mustache that she thought rather sexy, and she guessed he was probably in as good a shape as her partner even if he did have a slight pot belly.

Before sitting down she paused for a moment to listen to the beautiful cacophony of the orchestra tuning up. No matter how many times she came to the symphony she never got tired of listening to that.

After they had settled in halfway down the row she turned to him. “Cathy always gets me good seats even if I can't always use them,” she said. “The last time she did I got called away on a case involving what my partner thought was witchcraft, I thought a joke of some kind, and turned out to be a surprise party. Trust me, they were surprised indeed when Mulder and I burst in the door with guns drawn.”

  
Eric laughed politely. “I simply can't imagine what those situations must be like,” he said. “But clearly you thrive on it.”

She looked down at his hand, which was resting on the armrest between their seats. Unlike Mulder's his fingers were short, blunt, and well-manicured. He wasn't a very touchy-feely person, which was just as well, but he did expect her to hold his arm when they walked together. As this was their third date she wouldn't have minded more touching although she wasn't normally big on it. Also unlike her partner he was a true gentleman, holding the door and chairs for her, not invading her personal space unless invited, slowing his steps to match hers. Although that wasn't a real problem since though taller than she, he wasn't anywhere near her partner's height. Even the two brief good-night kisses they'd shared had been lukewarm with no touching anywhere else.

“I do enjoy my work, strange though it is at times,” she admitted, glancing around the crowded, brightly-lit concert hall. The cream of DC society—and then some—had turned out to see the famous up-and-coming Lithuanian pianist Gedra Pranciškus in her Washington debut. “How is yours coming along?”

He shrugged. “It plods. It'll be another six or eight months before I'm ready to do a live test, but it should be finished well in time for Y2k,” he said, also looking around. “I've never seen this place so packed, although I have only been here twice since I moved to D.C.”

Scully nodded. “For regular NSO concerts it's usually well-attended, but not like this. Even the expensive... boxes.. are...” She couldn't stop staring up at the first set of boxes along the wall to her right. Was that Mulder sitting up there with a long-haired brunette?!

“What's wrong?”

“What? Oh, nothing... thought I saw someone I knew but I was mistaken,” she tried to recompose herself, but was so startled that she wasn't sure what to do. Thankfully she knew that anyone in those boxes was unlikely to make out a single person on the crowded main floor where they sat so it was highly unlikely that Mulder would be able to spot her. Although why this was important she didn't know.

To cover how flustered she suddenly was, Scully gave him an abstracted smile and opened her program, but she didn't see a word. After a while she glanced up again—there was no mistake about it—that was Mulder up there. Though there were four chairs in the box only the front two were occupied, he and his apparent date. Without trying to be obvious that she was staring, she studied the pair.

She recognized the suit, shirt and tie Mulder was wearing; he usually saved those for their court appearances or when he wanted to look extra-nice. Dark charcoal Armani, deep blue shirt, striped tie; she was glad he had gotten rid of those terrible ties he used to wear. Of course she had contributed a few as presents over the last five years, one of which he was wearing now. She'd recognize that shaded blue, grey, and white striped pattern anywhere because she had bought it to match that shirt which he already owned.

The woman he was with looked vaguely familiar, though Scully couldn't see her very well as the lights went down as the concert started. She had long dark wavy hair and was wearing a red satin or silk strapless dress was about all she could tell. As she watched, he leaned over and said something into his companion's ear and she smiled at him in an intimate manner as he sat upright again, then they both turned to look at the stage. God, this reminded her of the Phoebe incident--no matter how much she tried to put that out of her mind, the image was burned in, unforgettable, especially in moments like this.

Mulder on a date? _I thought he only dated his videotapes,_ she thought to herself with some amusement as the concert began without her attention. _He seems pretty comfortable with her, I wonder how long he's been seeing someone?_ The thought caused a dropping sensation in her stomach, but she ignored it and snuck another glimpse. They were both sitting quietly and watching the orchestra, and she couldn't see if they were holding hands or touching as the front edge of the box cut them off at mid-chest level. _I'm surprised he didn't tell me. But then this is my third date with Eric and I haven't told him, so I guess it's no big deal that he didn't say anything to me about his extracurricular activities._

The first half of the program was almost over by the time she began to pay attention to it, and when she looked up at Cathy she found her friend's eyes on her as she sawed her way through a Grieg piece. She smiled, Cathy winked then went back to looking at the music on her stand.

Normally Scully would lose herself in the music, live music in particular. And this program was some of her favorite composers, the Late Romantics, Russians in particular. Pieces by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Grieg, and her favorite Rachmaninoff concerto with the guest pianist. However she was now badly distracted, barely aware of the man by her side and frequently glancing up at the box where her partner sat. She wasn't even aware that she was doing it until the lights came up for intermission and she watched as they got up and left. She'd completely missed Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, one of her favorite pieces of classical music, not to mention the two shorter pieces that she had also been looking forward to.

“Did you want to get a glass of wine, Dana? Or would you rather stay here?” Eric asked.

She had nearly forgotten about him. “I'd like to stretch my legs,” she said, knowing that she wouldn't run into Mulder since the boxes let out onto the second floor atrium and their seats onto the first; both had their own restrooms and concession kiosks. “And a glass of wine would be nice if the concessions aren't too crowded.” He put his arm out as they stood, and she felt she had no choice but to take it.

Unfortunately they were; Scully took one look at the lines and shook her head. The main floor reception area was packed with bodies dressed in dark material and colorful, sparkling with diamonds and glossy hair above all. “Do you want to go outside for a breath of fresh air?” Eric leaned over and asked her, but then she felt her cell buzz from inside her small black bag, which was resting against her side.

“Excuse me, my phone's ringing; I've got it on vibrate,” she said, disengaging her arm and heading for a wall where she would be out of the crush of people as she dug it out. “Scully,” she half-yelled over the crowd noise, flipping it open without looking at the caller ID, then moving her other hand over the other ear.

“Scully! What are you doing here?”

It was Mulder's voice; she'd know that baritone no matter how loud it was around her. Her stomach jolted but she ignored it. If nothing else, she thought, thank God she had really dressed up for this date and knew she was at her absolute evening-wear best from head to toe. “Here where?” she said. “Where are you?”

“Look up and to your right,” he said and when she did so, she found herself gazing up into her partner's smiling face hanging over the railing around the second floor, haloed by his dark hair which was falling over his forehead. The dark-haired woman stood at his side, also smiling. “I spotted you as soon as you came out and tried to call down to you but there was no way you could hear me. Come on up.”

“Uh, Mulder, I'm, er, with someone,” she said, trying to keep her voice down as Eric was only a short distance away, obviously trying to give her privacy but not so far away she couldn't find him.

“So am I. It's less crowded up here and there's no one at the bar if you want to get a drink. I saw you two looking at the lines down there,” he said, waving. “C'mon up.”

 _This is surreal,_ she thought. _I can't believe he spotted me. But what the hell, it'd be rude to refuse._ She closed her phone, waving back at him, then turned to Eric and put her hand on his forearm to get his attention. She led him toward the elevators as she explained, and to his credit her date didn't seem the least bit surprised or put out, just nodding as they rode up, moving her hand to tuck it inside his elbow.

She lifted the skirt of her moss-green dress slightly although it wasn't anywhere near long enough to impede her progress as they left the elevator; sheer habit, and it gave her other hand something to do. Though she'd never tell anyone, she was wearing one of her many bridesmaid's dresses. She'd had this one altered to remove the belt, overly frou-frou chiffon overskirt, attached jacket, and bows to turn it into a classic cocktail gown with a deeply-cut halter-type crossover bodice that left her arms bare and showed enough cleavage that it almost made her uncomfortable. It fit snug but not too tightly from shoulder to hip, and from there flared in a softly rustling skirt to halfway down her calf. The matching satin pumps might have given its origins away but since she'd paid for both, she was wearing them. She had pulled her hair back into a simple bun, it being just long enough to pull it off, and wore a small pair of diamond chip and gold filigree earrings to match her crucifix, which was on a longer chain so it hung halfway down her chest. For once she felt elegant and sophisticated instead of stern, businesslike, professional.

Mulder and the brunette were waiting where she'd seen them from downstairs and sure enough, she noted, there was less than half the people up here. The second floor was a balcony out over the lower floor and, as promised, she saw that there was no one at the long black bar along one wall. “Scully, I didn't know you came to the symphony,” Mulder said with a smile as they approached. She caught his glance up and down her figure and wondered what he thought of how she looked, which was about as different from her office persona as she could make it. “Do you remember Ella Benjamin? She's A.D. Kelly's assistant.”

The taller woman smiled, appearing relaxed and friendly, and extended a hand. Either she hadn't heard or didn't care about the rumors which included Scully's adopted surname “Mrs. Spooky”. “Agent Scully. Good to see you again.”

Scully smiled and nodded as she shook her hand. She and Mulder had worked under A.D. Kelly for a couple of weeks while Skinner was on vacation a year or so ago, and unlike most of the executive assistants Ella had been friendly, smiling and joking with them when they waited in the outer office. She'd never seen her flirting with Mulder—unlike many woman in the Hoover Building—but that didn't mean it hadn't gone on when she wasn't looking or around. “I didn't recognize you at first since you usually wear your hair up at work; good to see you again. This is my friend Eric Vaughn. Eric, Fox Mulder, my partner, and Ella Benjamin.”

“And you usually wear your hair down,” Ella said, still smiling pleasantly.

“Good to meet you at last, I've heard a lot about you,” Eric said as he and Mulder shook, then he and the taller woman. “Dana's told me about some of your past cases and I have to say, it sounds like a good thing that neither of you are out there alone.”

“We make a good team,” he nodded, smiling at her then turning to his date. “Did you still want to get a drink, Ella?”

Scully was almost shocked at how easily the four of them were getting along; she and Mulder had a bad habit of being rude to anyone the other might be interested in or someone that showed interest in them. The case in Texas last month was a good example, never mind that Mulder had left her alone with the attractive sheriff the one time that he shouldn't have.

They moved towards the concession stand where Mulder insisted on treating everyone to the drink of their choice. Scully couldn't help but notice that while he was scrupulously polite, he didn't touch the other woman nor even invade her personal space the way Eric was suddenly and unexpectedly doing with her. She still had her hand in the crook of his arm and he had it held rather tightly against his side, effectively trapping it. Even when they took their drinks from the bartender he didn't let go; she was glad her purse was on a strap and not a clutch bag like the red satin one that Ella carried as she'd probably have dropped it.

The chimes warning five minutes until the end of intermission sounded and Scully turned to look over the railing at the crowd below thronging back towards the concert hall. “We'd better get back to our seats,” she said to Eric, then turned to the other couple. “We're in the fifth row down the middle aisle on the main floor. You remember my friend Cathy?” Mulder nodded. “She's first chair cello now and always gets me good seats when we're in town.”

“Listen—my friends who have season tickets couldn't make it tonight so there's two free chairs. Would you like to join us in the box?” Ella asked, looking from Mulder to Scully and back. “If you don't mind, Fox.”

“Of course not,” he said, smiling down at her warmly and extending his arm. Ella curled her hand around the crook of his elbow and for the first time Scully felt a real pang of jealousy, though she immediately pushed it away. “Scully?”

She looked at Eric, who nodded agreeably although he had a rather odd look on his face that she couldn't quite decipher. Did he ever plan to disagree with her, she thought as they followed the taller couple towards the doors leading to the seats. She wondered if an usher would challenge them, but no one said a word as they moved through the curtains and into the box.

The view was amazing, Scully realized as she and Eric seated themselves in the rear chairs, she behind Ella and he behind Mulder. She had sat in the first tier before where the view was also of the entire orchestra from above. But this was both lower and much closer, and she suspected that the sound would be richer and fuller here as well. These were undoubtedly among the best seats in the house after the stage boxes that flanked the orchestra on three sides.

But her eyes weren't held to the stage for very long, not even when the guest pianist came out to thunderous applause. She was studying Ella Benjamin from behind, noting that she seemed to be just Mulder's type: tall with a waterfall of glossy, wavy dark brown hair, slender but with an hourglass figure that was nicely showcased in a strapless red satin gown that fell to the floor. A pair of long, sparkling silver and garnet earrings showcased her swanlike neck, drawing the eye when they swayed with her movements. She was, of course, Scully thought dispiritedly, much bustier than she herself was, although the bodice of the gown covered her without showing much cleavage. She'd always suspected that Mulder had a thing for big-bosomed brunettes and here was her proof. And what did she show him she had a thing for? Short chunky boring blonde men with fluffy mustaches.

That wasn't fair, she thought, aghast at her own thoughts. Eric was a handsome man by anyone's standards but she had begun, she realized with a burst of sudden insight, to measure every man against her partner and none measured up. It didn't matter if her date had been Richard Gere, he wasn't Mulder and that was all that mattered. She almost groaned out loud at this revelation but managed to keep her lips pressed tightly together, determinedly turning her attention to the stage below.

Gedra Pranciškus deserved her reputation, Scully thought as the music began. She was a wizard at the keyboard, on top of being stunningly beautiful. She had pale blonde hair that was pulled tightly up to the crown of her head, loose ringlets hanging down her back, and wore a tight, sparkling strapless black and pink floor-length evening gown that showcased her slender figure and easily four-inch spike heels. Still, she moved with an ease, grace and competence that belied her uncomfortable attire as she swept back and forth across the grand Steinway's keyboard.

She glanced at Eric and saw that he was totally involved with the music, eyes intent on the pianist, and let her eyes drift to the side of Mulder's face which was just to the right of the stage in her field of vision. He and Ella weren't touching nor did they sit close together, and she began to wonder what kind of date they were on. Eric had scooted his chair closer to hers after they sat down but, thankfully, didn't touch her.

All too soon the concert was over and after many curtain calls and two encores, the lights finally came up. As Mulder and Ella turned to face them Scully said, “Were you going to go to the meet and greet? I promised Cathy I'd be there.”

“Do you have to have tickets or an invitation to get into that?” Ella asked, picking up her program from the railing of the box. “I wouldn't mind having Gedra sign my program.”

“No, it's open invitation but they do limit the number of people allowed in,” Scully said. “I've been to a lot of these and they do tend to get crowded.”

“I've met Gedra before, I'm sure I can get you an autograph,” Eric told Ella in a rather pompous manner. He then glanced at Mulder and Scully and added, “I met her at a similar meet and greet at Orchestra Hall in Detroit, where I used to live before I moved to D.C. It was just a few months ago and we chatted for quite some time so I'm sure she'll remember me.”

“We'd better get a move on if we're going, then,” Mulder said, making a slight shooing motion as he and Ella got up, pushing their chairs to the side.

The moment Scully stood and turned Eric grabbed her hand, and she was rather taken aback to feel how sweaty his palm was. She didn't comment or remove her hand from his grasp although she found it rather uncomfortable. As soon as they were out of the hallway Eric let go of her hand and slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her rather tightly against him, and it was all she could do not to jump out of surprise; he'd never touched her like this before. His hand was tight on her waist, their hips bumping as they walked around the open atrium to the far wall, but she didn't want to pull away and embarrass either of them. What in Heaven's name had gotten into him all of a sudden?

They led the way to the second floor reception room since she was familiar with where it was, and to her surprise Scully found that it wasn't crowded at all. Several musicians, conspicuous in their dark and formal concert clothes, were already milling around. Most already held drinks or were grazing at the hors d'oeuvre buffet table, although she didn't see Cathy or the visiting pianist. There were maybe two dozen audience members in the large room, although she did see more people coming from the elevators. As they walked in Eric let go of her waist and took her hand again, but when she frowned inquiringly at him he only smiled blandly in return.

The four of them stood just inside and to the right of the doorway for a few moments, obviously at a loss for what to do. She noted that Mulder wasn't smiling although Ella seemed as pleasant as she had all evening, but he seemed to have suddenly copped an attitude. No one else may have noticed it, but she knew him too well to be fooled. The way his eyes narrowed down into dark triangular slits and the muscle in his cheek flexed was a dead giveaway, though she wasn't sure what had caused this sudden annoyed mood of his.

Just as Scully was about to try and make some kind of inane small talk to break the sudden tension Cathy came out of a side door, looked around, and made a beeline for her. “Dana!” she called as she hurried towards them still dressed in her concert outfit of a dark grey blouse and long black velvet skirt. “I thought you'd left when I saw that the seats I got for you were empty after intermission.” Then Mulder turned to face her and she rolled her eyes, but her smile widened if anything and she threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek before stepping back. He clearly couldn't help giving her a one-armed hug and smiling back at her, foul mood or no foul mood, Scully saw. “Fox! I should have known you'd be here if Dana was. How's my favorite rescuer?”

It took a few minutes to explain everything to Ella and Eric, but once filled in they moved over to the bar and got complimentary drinks. Scully, who had finally manged to get her hand loose from Eric's, set her wineglass of Chardonnay on the small high round table they were standing at, and excused herself while he was chatting with Cathy to make her way over to the hors d'oeuvre buffet. She wasn't so much hungry as she wanted to get away from the tension. Everything had seemed fine until they went to leave the box then she'd felt Mulder's sudden annoyance, and that had thrown everything off as far as she was concerned.

“Where in the hell did you meet him, Scully?”

She turned to glare at her partner, who was standing far to close to her and using a pair of small silver tongs to help himself to several cocktail sausages swimming in barbeque sauce, which rolled around on the small plate he held in his other hand. “I should have known that was the problem. Why are you acting like this all of a sudden, Mulder?” she replied in an equally intense and low tone. “You were fine when we came up here, and now you're acting like you did in Chaney when you saw the way Sheriff Hartwell was looking at me.”

“I don't like this guy's possessive mauling of you,” Mulder said. “I can tell that you don't like it, either.”

“You just stay out of it,” she hissed back, picking up a cheese and pâté covered cracker and putting it on her otherwise-empty plate. “What in the hell are you doing here anyway?”

“It's not really any of your business but if you insist, Ella asked me to come because her live-in boyfriend cancelled on her and she didn't want to miss seeing the guest pianist, she's a big fan. Apparently she told him if he decided that working late was more important than this she'd find another man to take her, and she wasn't kidding.”

They moved down the table and Scully helped herself to most of what was offered as long as it wasn't messy although Mulder seemed to be doing the opposite. She went heavy on the fruit and cheese cubes, her favorites. “Oh, so you're with some other man's woman,” she said snidely. “Isn't that kind of low, even for you? At least my date is unattached.”

“At least mine isn't mauling me half to death with sweaty hands. And Ella asked me because she knows I'm aware of her situation and won't expect anything when I take her home,” Mulder snapped back, his voice low. “You think I can't see that you don't like the way he's touching you? Why are you putting up with it?”

“You're mistaken, Mulder,” she said, glancing back to see that Eric, Cathy, and Ella were deep in conversation. “I like Eric a lot and this is our third date if you must know.”

He snorted but didn't reply as they moved from the buffet table back towards the small group by the doors. Scully set her plate down between herself and Eric in open but wordless invitation but before she could, he picked up the small plastic fork and helped himself to a cube of cantaloupe without a word or look at her, still deep in conversation with Cathy. Mulder caught her eye, shaking his head sadly, but she just glared and picked up the lone cracker on the plate.

She turned to Ella, who had waved off Mulder's offer to share his plateful of messy food and was staring pensively into space. “Do you come to the symphony often?” she asked the other woman. “I'd like to get season tickets but never know if I'll be in town for a concert or not.”

Ella seemed to come back from wherever she was and they chatted pleasantly for a few moments about the symphony and classical music, then there was a stir at the back of the room. The conversation was truncated as everyone turned to see Gedra Pranciškus emerging from the artists' doorway, now changed into a more comfortable dark blue skirt and white blouse that almost made her look like a schoolgirl. To Scully's surprise she was just a little thing even in heels, shorter than she although her strong stage presence had made her seem larger.

“If you'd like, I'll be glad to introduce you and get your program signed,” Eric said, setting the fork down on the now-empty plate and stepping around Scully over to Ella.

“Sure, if Dana and Fox don't mind?” she said, glancing at Scully then Mulder. Both gave their assurances that it wasn't a problem and as Scully turned back to the table, saw that Cathy had moved away and was talking to a tall grey-haired gentleman, leaving just the two of them.

“Would you like something?” She turned to see Mulder holding out his still mostly-full plate to her, and she reached over and took a chocolate-covered strawberry with murmured thanks. “Not, uh, big on sharing, is he?”

“Thanks.” Scully rested one elbow on the table and sighed as she nibbled the chocolate off of the berry. “You're right, Mulder, he is being a jerk, although he wasn't until he saw you,” she pointed out. “Our other two dates went fine, just fine.”

“Are you going to see him again?” Mulder asked, looking down at the plate on the table between them as he speared a thin slice of smoked salmon covered in white sauce.

“Probably not, and I don't know that I would have even if we hadn't run into you,” she admitted, then took a bite from the strawberry. Rich tart sweetness flooded her mouth and for just a moment Scully closed her eyes, savoring it before she swallowed. She opened her eyes to find Mulder staring at her, his eyes wide, then he looked away. What just happened here? She wondered, but was interrupted by Ella's return before she could think about it any further.

“Fox, you're not going to believe this, but Reese just called and he'd downstairs waiting for me,” she said breathlessly, smiling, holding a cell phone in one hand, her program and open clutch bag in the other. “It looks like our little plan worked. Are you all right with going home alone if I--”

  
Mulder smiled in return at her. “Go on, this is what you'd hoped for. Thanks for dinner and the concert.”

“My pleasure,” she flashed him a grin, then looked over at Scully still smiling. “Nice seeing you, Dana, maybe we'll run into each other here again.” Then she was out the door in a swirl of red satin.

Mulder met his partner's raised brows. “She was using me to make him jealous,” he explained. “Apparently her boyfriend Reese tends to work late and cancel on her frequently so she wanted to teach him a lesson. It worked,” he said with a smile, lifting his glass of light amber Scotch to his mouth for a sip.

“A tough job but I guess someone's got to do it,” Scully remarked dryly. “You were sure he wouldn't come after you in a more physical way?”

“You mean like start a fight? I doubt it--he's an accountant,” he grinned again, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he lifted his drink to his mouth again. “Besides, I was careful to be scrupulously polite every second; I treated her like I would have my sister or mother. Or you. I wanted to help her make the guy jealous, not break up their relationship.”

'Or you?' Scully thought, finding herself disgruntled with the thought. So that was how he saw her? Like a sister? Well, let's see him ignore this, she thought with uncharacteristic snideness as she leaned over the table to swipe another berry from his plate, making a point of bringing her shoulders forward and leaning against her arm on the table to push her breasts together in the low-cut gown.

As she leaned back with her trophy she heard a strangled sound and looked up to see Mulder setting his glass down with enough of a thump to slosh liquid out even though it was half empty. He turned away and coughed a few times into his curled fist then looked back at her and said in a half-strangled voice, “I guess I deserved that.”

She grinned, satisfied with his reaction. “You did. And sometimes you do get what you deserve.”  
He got a very interesting look on his faced but before he could speak, she felt a touch on her elbow and turned to see Eric standing there with Gedra Pranciškus at his side. After making introductions he said, “Dana, would it bother you terribly if we took Gedra back to her hotel on the way home? Her driver got sick and she doesn't want to take a cab by herself.”

“Actually that works well since my date had to leave,” Mulder said, then drained the last of the liquid in his glass and set it down. “I have my car here and can take Scully home.”

“Scully?” Gedra said in a heavily accented voice, looking around the rapidly-emptying room. “Where is this Scully person?”

“That's me,” she said. “My partner and I have gotten in the habit of calling each other by our last names.”

“Ah,” the other woman said in a disbelieving tone, then turned to Eric and took his arm possessively. “Eric, you take me back to hotel now, no? I am very tired from concert.”

“Dana, are you sure--” he began, but she waved him off. “Okay, then, I'll give you a call sometime,” he called back over his shoulder as the diminutive Lithuanian all but dragged him away.

“I wouldn't hold my breath were I you,” Mulder said, and she turned to him to see him smiling slightly. “It's just you and me, how do you like that.”

She raised a brow at him. “Yeah, how do you like that,” she parroted in a clearly sarcastic tone. Then she sighed and let her shoulders slump. “Ah, he was getting boring anyway,” she admitted, picking up her almost-empty glass of wine and finishing it. “Let her deal with his sweaty palms.”

Mulder leaned across the table and said in a husky voice, “I think he's crazy to leave you—God knows if it had been my choice I wouldn't have,” he said, staring into her eyes. “But then, that's just me.”

She got his unspoken message and felt her cheeks warm, looking away as butterflies invaded her belly. Seeing that the room was nearly empty other than for the servers who were cleaning up what was left of the trashed buffet, she spoke to the table rather than look in his eyes. “Guess it's time to go, Mulder. I hope the coatroom is still open since I left my good leather jacket there.”

He nodded, stepping around the small table with his arm out which she took with an answering smile up at him. Placing his other hand over hers and squeezing it gently he said, “C'mon, Scully, let's stop by Starbucks on the way home and I'll buy you a skinny mocha latte. Decaf figuring on how late it is.”

“You do know me, Mulder.”

“Must be fate that we always end up together even if it wasn't iced tea in that bag.”

“Must be.”

Smiling at each other, they left the room arm in arm.

 

_finis_


End file.
